June 23, 2025
Chat with readers about a childhood event that still sticks out in your mind,
Something you’d like to go through again.
I have a lot of warm memories of my childhood. Being one of nine children, it may not have been typical, but it helped shape who I am. To pick one event that sticks out doesn’t seem possible. Should I chat about sledding on a car hood in the neighbors’ cow pasture? Or swimming in a deep spot in a creek? Helping on an archeology dig as part of a summer program? Spending hours wandering the woods and fields that surrounded our home?
How about the summer I went on an overnight trip to practice wilderness survival skills? That may have been the summer after my sophomore year in high school. It was part of a summer school program which was an enrichment opportunity, not a requirement for grades.
The trip was the culmination of a several-week course, in which we learned the basics about local flora and fauna. Since I’d been involved with the Girl Scouts for years, I already had a solid base of knowledge, but wanted to expand on it from a different perspective.
We were a small group, maybe a dozen kids, and two teachers.
I was one of only three girls. (No, I never fit in the standard teen-girl mold.) We met at the school, with our backpacks or bedrolls, and took a school bus to a lake about an hour away. The adventure was “survival light” in that we didn’t have to find our own water and some basic food was provided.
The afternoon was spent fishing for sunfish at the lake, which would become our supper. With the help a a park ranger, we gutted and filleted our catch. At the campsite, a short hike away, there was an abundance of trees with edible leaves (think sassafras) and wild carrots. (We didn’t have to haul in pots and other cooking implements.) We collected our own firewood, and slept on the ground. There was no rain, thank heavens. (I was already experienced in starting fires, so I left the fun to others.)
I don’t remember what we did for breakfast, probably a typical egg-in-a-hole. (Basically French Toast with an egg in the middle.)Then, we cleaned up after ourselves, and hiked to a different spot to be picked up by the bus.
As I wrote this, I wondered what my parents thought about it.
They were brave, letting me find my own way on an unusual path. Did they regret it when I hopped on a Greyhound bus a few years later to go to a college in Wyoming, sight unseen? It’s probably a good thing they didn’t know about it when my husband and I took our three-day old baby camping in a wilderness area.
What about the other authors on this hop? What childhood event are they sharing? You can find out by following the links below. (Most post Monday morning.)
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
June 23, 2025
Chat with readers about a childhood event that still sticks out in your mind, something you’d like to go through again.
